Thanksgiving with the Connors
by The1Russter
Summary: Cameron has her first Thanksgiving with the Connors. A one off story, hints of Sarah & Derek and John & Cameron.


A one off story featuring Sarah, Derek, John and Cameron from "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

I do not claim any rights to the characters or the TV series.

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**Thanksgiving with the Connors**

"Hey mom! How's the turkey doing?" John shouts from the living room.

"It's fine." Sarah says wiping her brow. She hates cooking, but no one else in the house knows how.

"Okay, just remember we like it moist not like charcoal." John shouts back.

Derek cracks a smile and tries to focus his attention on the football game. He's never said anything, but Sarah's cooking leaves a lot to be desired, but it's better than the stuff he had to live on in the future.

Sarah stands in the kitchen door, flour covers her jeans, there is a black sooty smudge on her forehead. "If you think you can do a better job, then you're more than welcome to try."

"No. That's okay mom. I'm sure you've got it all under control."

"Hmmph." She huffs and goes back into the kitchen.

"Isn't there something you can do to help her?" Derek whispers so his voice won't carry to certain ears in the kitchen.

John whispers back, "The only thing I know how to fix is cereal, and that isn't exactly thanksgiving fair. What about you?"

"Same here, unless you want roasted rat for dinner. That's about all we had for protein in the bunkers."

"Depending on how mom does with that turkey, you may wish you had some rats to roast about now."

Derek snorts laughter and goes back to watching the game.

A few minutes later Cameron walks in the door carrying a couple of bags of groceries.

"Hey Cam! Were you able to find everything mom needed?"

"Yes, but it wasn't easy. Most stores are closed today."

John gets up from his chair and walks over to her. "Are there any more bags, or is this all of it?"

"There are two more bags in the jeep."

"I'll get them for you." John says with a smile and goes out to the jeep.

He walks in the house a moment later to hear his mom shouting at Cameron.

"I know what the recipe says, but I'm not using that recipe. I'm using one my mom taught me."

"But the oven should be set ten degrees lower to decrease the likelihood of drying. It will only add thirty minutes to the cooking time."

"That's it. I'm finished." Sarah pulls her apron off and throws it at Cameron. "If you think you can do a better job, it's all yours."

Sarah marches out of the kitchen and past John. "What's wrong Mom?"

"Nothing, but if you want a Thanksgiving dinner. It's up to tin-miss to cook it. I'll be upstairs in the tub. Don't bother me until dinner is ready."

John sighs and walks in setting the bags of groceries on the counter. "What did you say to Mom this time?"

"I only made a suggestion about her cooking."

John's rolls his eyes. "That is the last thing you should have done. She's left it up to you now. You want some help."

"Would you chop the onions and celery for the dressing?"

"Sure." John pulls the vegetables out of the bag and sits down with the knife and cutting board.

"How much do you need?"

"The recipe says one cup of each."

"What recipe? I don't see any books out."

"It's from a book on the shelves. I read them all last week. I never sleep."

"I suppose that comes in handy." John says as he chops the vegetables.

Upstairs, Sarah pours a nice hot bath. She adds some scented salts to the water and hangs her robe on the door. She lights a couple of candles, then slides gently into the water.

Sarah leans back with a sigh of relief. She wishes there were more days like this. The light of the candles and the scent of the water is relaxing. No pressures, no worries. No sounds but the but what few drift up the stairs from the football game and the sounds from the kitchen. And the nicest thing of all, she's not cooking. Sarah drifts off to sleep.

It doesn't seem like she's been asleep very long, when there is a tapping at the door. "Sarah. Are you in there?" Comes Derek's voice.

Derek cracks the door a little. "Sarah. Are you all right. Dinner is ready."

He gets no response.

He pushes the door open further and looks inside to see Sarah asleep in the tub. The candles are beginning to gutter.

Derek enters and snuffs out the candles. He looks at Sarah. The bubbles hide her body from view, but what strikes him is her face. For the first time since he met her, all the tension and worry is gone. He can see why Kyle would fall in love with her. She is beautiful.

He squats down beside the tub and reaches out and touches her shoulder. "Sarah."

Her only response is a slight mumble.

"Come on Sarah. Wake up. Dinner is ready."

Sarah's been dreaming of a normal life. Her and Kyle with little John. How she wishes he could have been there. Helping her raise their son. At times like these when she is the most relaxed she dreams happy dreams with him.

"Reese." She whispers.

"Yes. Come on Sarah. Wake up." Derek says.

"Reese." Sarah says again and lifts a wet arm from the water and pulls Derek to her.

"Sarah. What are you doing?" Derek ask with panic as she pulls him closer and kisses Kyle in her dream.

"Sarah, Wake up! The kids have got dinner ready."

Sarah's eyes open to see Derek's face right in front of her's.

"Get out!" She throws some water at him. "Get out!"

Derek jumps back getting splashed with water.

"Hey! Hey! I'm not the one who..." He gets interrupted when he gets smacked in the face with a wet cloth.

"Get out of here!" Sarah shouts again as Derek leaps through the door.

He sticks his head back in long enough. "Dinner is ready. John and Cameron say to wear something nice."

Splash! A wet sponge smacks him in the face.

Derek walks into John's room, his head dripping wet.

"Why the hell did you send me in there to get her?" He asks.

John looks up from tying his dress shoes and laughs at the sight of his uncle. "For one, Cameron's busy getting dressed for dinner and I'm getting changed. And second, I've already seen her naked once, when we time-traveled. Twice could scar me for life."

John tosses a t-shirt at him. "Here. Wipe the water off your face with this. I've got a clean dress shirt and a tie in my closet that might fit you. See you downstairs."

John walks out of his room at the same time as Cameron leaves hers. He just stands there a moment just staring at her. His mouth hangs open and he doesn't breathe.

Cameron's hair is pulled up in a loose bun. She's wearing a black silk dress that comes just above her knees. It has a plunging neckline that reveals a minimal amount of cleavage and her warm pink toned flesh. Her shoes match her dress. A gold chain with a small pedant hangs around her neck. She smell's wonderful.

"John?" Cameron asks trying to get his attention.

"Huh." He responds as he tries to remember who he is and why he's here.

"What do you think of my dress?"

"You look absolutely beautiful." He says, stammering a little.

She smiles lightly, "Thank you. You look very handsome, too."

John offers her his arm, and they walk down the stairs together.

John is setting the table when Derek comes down the stairs.

"Your shirt is a little tight under the arms." Derek says as he goes to grab a beer from the fridge.

"Put that back!" Cameron says firmly.

"What the hell?"

"I said, put that back. I got something special to drink with dinner today. Now, put that back!"

Derek scowls at her and goes into the living room to sulk. "Damn metal . . ."

The rest of his words go unheard when he turns the game back on.

"Why didn't you let him have a beer? You know he gets grumpy without his beer."

"Because the beer would fill him up before dinner and I've gotten something special for us to drink with it. Would you get Sarah? The turkey is ready to come out of the oven now."

John quickly leaves and goes up the stairs and knocks on his mom's door.

"Go away Reese!" Sarah shouts from the other side.

"It's me, mom." John yells through the door.

"Oh, sorry John. Come on in. I'm decent."

He opens the door to find his mom standing at the end of her bed in a long white sparkling gown. Her back is exposed showing off her tanned skin to her waist.

Sarah is holding up two different pairs of shoes. "What do you think? The open toe sandals, or the strapless high heels?"

"Definitely the high heels."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes mom. I'm sure."

"So why is it Cameron wants us to get dressed up for dinner? We never have before."

"It's her first Thanksgiving. She's been doing some reading on it. I think she wants it to be special."

Sarah finishes pulling on her shoes. "What do you think?"

"You look great mom. Walk through Hollywood looking like that, people will think you're a movie star."

"Thanks." She says giving her son a peck on his forehead.

She takes his arm and they walk down the hall.

"Derek." Cameron yells. "Get back to the table. Sarah and John are coming."

Derek walks back to the table to find it piled with food. Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, dressing, steamed oysters, cranberry sauce, a large gravy bowl and what looks like a twenty pound turkey.

"You cooked all this! For what army?" Derek asks absolutely flabbergasted. "This is more food than I've ever seen."

Derek's next words are wiped away as he gets a look at Sarah. Like John earlier when he saw Cameron, he suddenly forgets everything. However, he does remembers his manners and steps over and pulls out a chair for her.

Sarah raises her eyebrows in reaction while contemplating his actions. Grinning mischievously she goes to the opposite side and takes a chair facing him.

Derek takes it in stride and sits down in the chair he pulled out. He grins at her in return.

John and Cameron share a look as they watch the exchange between the adults. John pulls out a chair for Cameron and she sits giving him a grateful smile. John takes a seat next to her.

Cameron speaks, "I understand that it is a tradition that each person at the table should mention something they are thankful for. Sarah, would you like to go first?"

Sarah pauses a moment then says, "First of all, I'm thankful Cameron cooked the meal, and I'm thankful for my son John."

"What? Don't I count at all?" Derek reacts.

Sarah grins at him. "What are you grateful for Derek?"

"That's easy, my Desert Eagle hand gun. I never go anywhere without it."

"Derek."

"What?"

"I think you're suppose to mention things that are more personal." John responds.

"What's more personal than a man's weapon?" Derek responds.

Sarah and John look at each other and break up laughing.

Derek turns three shades of red, then turns another couple of shades when Cameron asks, "What's funny about that? Having a weapon is very important to Derek."

Sarah chuckles some more and John leans over and whispers in her ear.

"Oh. Thank you for explaining." She says with a smirk, glancing at Derek.

"What are you grateful for John?" Sarah asks.

John looks around the table. "Having all of you here." He says gratefully.

Cameron reaches under the table and gives his hand a light squeeze. He turns to look at her in surprise, to find warm brown eyes smiling at him. He swallows nervously and asks, "What are you thankful for?"

She smiles at him and says, "Derek would you carve the turkey. John would you come with me to the kitchen. I need your help with something."

"Sure." John says placing his napkin back on the table.

He follows her out into the kitchen. Cameron stops by the fridge.

"What do you need my help with? I thought you brought everything out to the table already."

She takes his face in her hands and kisses him. John opens his eyes in surprise and returns her kiss.

"What was that for?" He asks when she finishes.

"For including me in what you are grateful for. Could you get the wine glasses down from that shelf for me?"

"Sure."

He takes down the glasses and turns around to see Cameron holding a bottle of red wine.

"Where did you get that?"

"Don't ask." She responds witha grin.

They both walk into the dining room. They spend the next ninety minutes talking and laughing and sharing stories.

Sarah and John clean up afterwards. They walk back through the dining room to find Derek and Cameron still sitting there staring at each other holding the wishbone.

"Who do you think will win?" Sarah asks.

"Cameron would sit there until the sun died. I'd bet fifty bucks that Derek won't last two more hours."

"I'll take that bet." Sarah responds.

"Hey I was only Joking." John says with a smile.

"Too late. I already took it." Sarah responds as she pulls her shoes off. "That feels a lot better."

"Should we leave the light on for them?" John asks with a yawn as he follows her to the stairs.

"Do you think they'd even notice?"

John looks at Cameron and Derek as they stare at each other, each of them barely pulling on the wishbone, hoping for the other to give in and pull hard thus losing.

"Nope." He says as he hits the light.

Derek and Cameron sit there staring at each other in the dark pulling the wishbone, hoping the other will pull too hard and lose.

John's sleep is broken by a yell.

Cameron runs into his room. "I won. I won."

"What? Huh? Won what?" He asks as he turns the clock to see its 3:15 in the morning.

"Ahh, come on Cameron, couldn't this have waited until I was up?"

"But I won." She says holding out the biggest piece of the wishbone.

"Okay. Then. What did you wish for."

She smiles at him. "I already got my wish." and kisses him again.

Cameron walks out of his room as Sarah walks in.

"So Cameron won. You owe me fifty bucks. Derek lasted longer than two hours."

John groans and pulls the covers over his head. "It's in my wallet. Now can I get back to sleep."

Sarah walks out of his room with a grin.

John doesn't get back to sleep. He can't get that kiss from Cameron out of his head.

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Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone! God Bless!

The1Russter


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